Sandy Glass and Marion Mendelssohn are co-directors of a cancer research lab in Boston. As mentors to their young protègès, they demand dedication in a competitive environment where funding is scarce. So when the experiments of Cliff Bannaker suggest a major breakthrough, the entire lab becomes giddy with newfound expectation. But jealousy breeds suspicion and Cliff's colleague - and girlfriend - Robin Decker begins to suspect that his findings are fraudulent. As Robin makes her private doubts public and Cliff maintains his innocence, a life-changing controversy engulfs the lab and everyone in it.